MTBBill

Daley Ranch After Work Rides

So Nichol has been looking way too comfortable riding around Lake Hodges as of late so it was time bring on something a little more challenging for the after work rides.

Nichol meet Daley Ranch. Just for the record the top section of the East Ridge Trail was the only time she hike-a-biked any section of the first ride out here. I have a feeling it is just a matter of time before I’m chasing her up the hills.

We were chasing daylight on our first outing so we did Creek Crossing to Sage to the Jack Meadow Loop. After the loop we took the East Ridge trail back to the Creek Crossing trail and back the trailhead. It was only 9 miles and change but was more elevation change than the 18 mile loop we last did at Lake Hodges.

Our second after-work ride at Daley this week started out the same but at the top of the Jack Meadow Loop we took the Hidden Springs trail (aka “The Wall”) up onto the western ridge where we rode the Engelman Oak and the Cougar Ridge trails (fire roads) over the Crest trail. The trail is holding pretty well considering that we have been way short on rain for a long time. After the Crest trail we took the ranch access road back to the trail. This was only a mile longer than the previous outing but added about 500 feet of additional climbing. This is a good time of year to be riding out here with mild temps and greenery all around.

XP-10 Jump Starter Review

I’m planning on doing some solo adventures in the not so distant future and while I believe I have the being sufficient aspects of mountain biking out on the trail figured out, I assessed that I needed to shore up my solo base-camping and exploring with my truck self sufficiency a bit. I always carry a set of jumper cables in my truck which are great if there is another vehicle around but what do you do if you are out in the middle of nowhere and your battery goes dead? Luckily it has not happened to me yet but I have had a couple of scares. The Rainbow Rim Trail on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for examples qualifies as an out in the middle of nowhere ride. You lose cell coverage at least 20 miles before you get to the trailhead and you could be waiting a day plus for someone else to come along if you are out there in the middle of the at certain times of the year. I wanted a way to jump start my truck should the battery go dead without having to resort to install a second battery and isolator system in the truck. I also did not want something that was bulky or weighed a ton. Additionally, I wanted a method to recharge my various gadgets I would have around the truck base-camp (laptop for futzing with photos, DSLR and GoPro Batteries, etc…)

So after a bunch of research and gawking with various offering I bought the Micro-Start XP-10 Jump Starter/Personal Power Supply from Antigravity Batteries. I have had it now for a few months and the XP-10 fits the bill for my needs and then some. The Lithium-Ion Jump Starter/Battery Pack is quite small for the power it provides. Its 9″ by 3.2″ by 1.2″ and weighs just 1 lb. 2 oz. It comes in a simulated leather carrying case with an assortment of plug in and out cables. It regards to its primary purpose of jumpstarting my truck, it has that covered in spades.

The Smart Clamp Jumper Cables

It comes with a diminutive set of battery clamp cables (14.5″ Long) that plug into a specific port on the end of the battery. Antigravity calls them “Smart Clamps” since they check for things like reverse polarity and how bad off the battery is discharged. To use just hook up the clamps to your car battery, plug the clamps into the XP-10 battery and turn it on, if you get a green light on the clamp, hop in your vehicle and start it up. The XP-10 provides 300 starting amps with a peak current of up to 600amps! The directions tell you to disconnect the battery clamps within 30 seconds of starting your vehicle. I have disconnected my truck battery completely and this thing was able to start my truck. I did this several times and the battery still showed a full charge. There are videos of folks starting six and eight cylinder trucks dozens of times on a single charge.

Now for the personal power supply features. The unit has two USB Outputs that can provide 2A and 1A of charging current for whatever USB devices you may have. At the same end of the battery as the USB ports is the connection for the battery clamps (normally behind a rubber cover) and a LED flashlight that has High, Low, Strobe and SOS modes. The company’s website list the battery as 18,000mA capacity and the back of the case list it as 66.6WH which I’m not sure how many smart phone recharges that will get you but a lot seems be in the right ballpark. More importantly the amperage it can provide is impressive. The literature does not give a lumens value for the “Hi-Power” LED flashlight. The beam on the light is more a flood than spot. Comparing to some of my other flashlights I would guess this is around a 100-130 lumen light. While the light can be handy it is was not one of my needs when looking for a jumper starter.

The kit includes a short 4 way USB cable that has iPhone lighting and 30-pin plugs along with USB mini and micro plugs.

On the side of the unit are 5 LEDs that give an indication of the unit’s charge level. The power of the battery is such that I can use the battery for other things and still be confident that it could start my truck as long as I have 3 LEDS left. The single button that operates the unit is located on this side as well. Once turned on, the unit can detect if the devices are not drawing any power and will automatically shut itself off. One of the outputs its provides is a 12V 10A circuit that can be used for a wide array items. The kit does not include a female cigarette socket to the 5.1mm DC plug cable which would be quite handy. This was not a deal breaker for me as you can get it for about $11 on the companies website. But in my case I had one already from another piece of gear.

An additionally output is a 19V circuit that can handle up to 3.5A. The majority of laptop makers in the world seem to have settled on 19 volts as the charging voltage for their devices. The kit includes a small DC plug jumper (5.1 mm that fits both the 12V and 19V ports) and 8 adaptors that fit the majority of the laptop manufacturer’s offerings. Note for you Apple folks, the MacBook Pro and Air laptops use different voltages (16.5V or 14.5 based on various models and years) so making a custom adaptor is not a simple task for your equipment.

Charging the XP-10 is as simple as using the provided AC-DC charging adaptor or the 12V cigarette plug adaptor. The XP-10 also has built in overcharge as well as over-discharge protection circuitry. Amongst the other devices of this genre, the overcharge protection and the ability to be charged from a vehicle (12-14V) were huge selling points for me. Some of the other units could not be charged from a cigarette lighter port or did not have overcharge protection. The ability to charge the unit in this manner allows me to use this battery around camp and I can recharge it from the truck while driving to the next location. Additionally I have a portable/backpacking solar panel (which I’m going to review later) that can output the correct voltage to charge this battery as well. This means I can let the sun charge up the battery over the course of the day while I’m out playing on the trails and not worry about it being overcharged (which can damage batteries). I can then use this battery to recharge my toys back at camp without having to be concerned about draining down the batteries in my truck.

I don’t have fancy official testing stuff like graphs of voltage/amperage over time stuff. Here are some practical things I have done with battery pack. All of the following was done on single charge. I disconnected my Toyota Tacoma’s (4.0L V6 Engine) battery from the truck and started the truck three times. Yes, this battery pack jump started my truck three times with no battery in the truck whatsoever. The following day I recharged a coworkers Blackberry from 5% to 70%. Later that day I recharged another Blackberry from 8% back to 100%. During this time the charge level on the XP-10 battery went from 5 lights (which I assume to be mean 80 to 100% full) down to four. The following day I recharged my ASUS Zenbook Laptop (quad-core i7 Intel processor) from 11% back up to 96% (while I continued to use it) before the XP-10 shutdown as it was discharged.

I’m pretty freaking impressed with this gadget. The MSRP is $209.99 and I paid around $150 for my unit. I consider it well worth the investment for the versatility and piece of mind it provides.

Chasing the Sun at Lake Hodges

I have been hitting up Lake Hodges as the after-work ride as of late. It is right on the way home at it only take a handful minutes to be out on the trail after getting off the freeway.

Here is Nichol working a log ride.

Critters seen along the trail.

Views from the trail behind and above the boat launch.

A mechanical on the Tuesday ride turned me into a reluctant single speeder. Of course it happened right after the apex of the ride.

So I have not dusted my night-time riding gear in quite sometime. As an after-work ride in January chasing the sun is always part of the equation. The sunsets have been pretty awesome as of late so “losing” the race with the sun is its own reward.

Greenery at SCST

I spent an afternoon this weekend showing Nichol around the San Clemente Singletracks (aka San Onfre State Park aka “The Weed Patch). The trails are in great conditions and the winter greenery is in full effect.

It is really awesome that the state park legalized the majority of the user-built trail network out here but I always find the “Cultural” names they gave the trails funny. (And nearly unpronounceable to boot). The Pacific Ocean is off in the distance here along with the Oregon and Ho Chi-Min trails.

Climbing “Stitches” which I think the park calls “Yuma’ukawichum Pompe”. No matter what you call it, it is a nice bit of trail.

Cruising “No-Tools”. This trail got its name because no tools were used in its original construction. Folks just rode the route enough that a trail bedded in. Off in the distance in Santiago Peak and the San Ana Mountains that are home many a trail such as. Trabuco and Holy Jim, the San Juan Trail and West Horse Thief just name a few.

Nichol working a turn on “Holeshot”. It is really hard to ride all of the trails in a single visit as you would have to double up on a few loops to reach all the trails . I estimate you would do nearly 30 miles with a healthy dose of elevation change.

We only a did fraction of the trail system, but certainly earned post-ride beers and a stop by one of my favorite burger stops in the area, aptly named Burger Stop. We are definitely going to get back here a few times over the winter just to enjoy all of the greenery on these excellent trails.

Winter in San Diego

My how time flies. It been a while since my last post. I would like to say that I have been too busy riding my bike to post, but that is simply not the case. Between work, family, the holidays and a handful of the other things getting to the keyboard has just not been happening.

However I have been getting out and about and doing some research and just seeing stuff. Valley of the Moon out near Jacumba is really cool and I am planning to spend some more time out there.

I have also been riding some trails that I’m obliged to not publish.

The recent rains have certainly greened this up around the county. Above is Raptor Ridge just east of Lake Hodges.

Some more of the greenery.

Cruising the Del Dios Trail

One of the latest chasing the sun after-work rides

We did not leave any daylight unused on this ride.

BLT, Redtail Roost and Noble Canyon

Saturday Nichol and I went up to Big Laguna Meadow to get in some biking and a night of camping.

It was quite a pretty day with some fall colors up in the trees and exceptionally nice temps. After setting up camp we did a cruise around meadow.

We were up bright and early the next morning to meet a gang-o-folks down at the lower Noble Canyon Trailhead for some playing around for the better part of the day. We left some vehicles at the bottom and then drove up to the Redtail Roost trailhead off of Sunrise Highway. There were at total of 10 of us in the gaggle. Redtail roost is a fun trail that goes along a wooded ridgeline for a ways before descending down into the Laguna Meadow area. Encountering a dude all decked out in camouflage early along the trail was good reminder that it is hunting season up here. I was also glad I passed on wearing my buckskin jersey and Viking helmet on this ride.

After descending Redtail Roost we climbed up Aqua Dulce to the top of the Los Gatos trail where we then descended down to the meadow. But not without playing a few features here and there. Here is Michael playing on a skinny.

Dave getting in some log action as well. Once down on the meadow we went up the east side of the meadow a ways and the did a side loop that included a portion of the connector trail that goes between the meadow and the Pacific Crest Trail. Once back at the meadow we went around and up the west side of the meadow and caught the connector over to Penny Pines and the upper Noble Canyon trailhead. It was here that David’s frame broke where the downtube meets the bottom bracket. So he broke off from the group for a very dodgy ride back to Redtail Roost along Sunrise Highway.

It was Noble Canyon time now and there was plenty of good stuff as always between the top and the bottom. Here is Jenny rolling through the woods up near the top.

James playing on a jump about halfway down or so.

James rolling into the “Stairway to Hell”

Kevin meets Stairway to Hell. I was kind of jealous of his superlight rig earlier in the ride, you know like on the climbs. I was pretty stoke with my rig through these parts. After spending most the summer riding a XC hardtail rent-a-wreck my long-legged stretched out full suspension couch felt awesome through this stuff. Woot Woot!

James working through some chunk. By the time we hit the bottom trailhead most folks’ mileage device had us doing between 24 and 25 miles with a little under 2,800 feet of climbing in. While the rest of the crew headed out, I went back up to he meadow and we broke camp down at a leisurely pace and then headed out for tasty BBQ and Beer at Alpine Beer Company. Another good weekend on a bike.

Sasebo Catchup

I have been back from Sasebo for a couple of weeks now. The last few weeks that I was in Japan was pretty hectic. I did have time to ride but little time to do much posting. Here are some pictures.

From the north slope of Mt Yumihari. I come to loath the rental wreak that I had. Cantilever rim brakes! I now that the hand shake strength of a pair vise grips.

Views found in a break in the foliage.

There was plenty of rain which kept most the trails soggy for way too much of the time I was there. I often did the road climb up to the top of the Mt Yumihari after work. It was almost always a chasing the sun kind of ride. While I typically beat the sun, the rain got me on more than a few occasions.

Views from a park at near the top of Mt Eboshi east of town.

Sasebo as seen from Mt Eboshi

More of Mt Eboshi

More views from the chasing the sun series

I lost the race against the sun on this ride

Intentionally enjoyed losing the race on this evening.

Views from south of town.

Sunshine Ride in Sasebo

Over the last month that I have been working over here there has been about four individual days that it has not rained for some portion of the day. The soil composition in this area is typically clay based which holds up to the rain well but becomes treacherously slick. The cantilever rim brakes coupled with the 1.75 tires on my rent-a-wreck hard-tail makes riding of this stuff with an moisture on them at all downright sporty.

It rained early Saturday and had been sunny ever since so I decided to test the waters on one of the prominent mountains in the area, Akasaki. The trail has seen some maintenance earlier in the year so the tread was in good condition and the trail was well brushed. I could tell during the climb that traction could be a problem on the descent as plenty of finesse was required on the climb to keep from breaking the rear wheel loose. The views from top were exceptional.

The descent of this trail was however still pretty slick and made for a squirrely descent, particularly in the turns. Notice in the photo above there is some four fingered braking going on. If I would have known my work project was going to be extended by nearly a month, I would have brought my bike over. On the plus side this rental is completely unforgiving so it forces you to handle the bike precisely.

After way too much fun on the “easy” descent, I passed on this trail under the guise of discretion is the better part of valor. I opted to spend the rest of the ride scoping out trailheads and crossings off the back roads of the area for future exploration when the trails are drier.

This sign unfortunately does not say “Hiro-San’s Texas Style BBQ 100 meters ahead”. There are lots of wild boar in this area and I believe the signs either says beware of boars or indicates a typical boar crossing. Ummmm Bacon!

Shirahama Beach was the apex point of this ride. A snack and a little bit of chilling was in order before it was time to start a good bit of climbing on the return leg.

I have come across about half a dozen of these land crabs here in Japan. I was a good half a mile from the ocean and at least 100 feet plus in elevation. These are the basically the same kinds of crabs you see around the rocks in most stateside beaches but these guys have adapted to thrive away from the shorelines here. Mr. Crabs here was pissed.

A view of Kujyukushima from Tenkaiho Park. I have ridden on all of these peaks at one time or another with the exception of the volcano looking peak to the left, Mt Atago. It is still on the list.

This is literally the lawn mowing crew at this park. The grounds keepers stake out the goats and once they eat down their circle they move the stakes. Pretty cool.

Got Grass Will Mow! (Will through in fertilizing your lawn for free)

By the time I made my way “home” I had covered 22 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing. A yummy Nippon microbrew was definitely earned.

Pre-Typhoon Ride in Sasebo

Earlier this week, work has taken me back to Sasebo in the southern part of Japan. I’ll be here for about a month and change. I had debated about shipping/bringing one of my own bikes over here for the duration but between the cost and hassle, I decided to take my chances with getting a rental. I’m thinking I maybe should have went with shipping one of my own bikes over as the pickings were slim at the rental place.

The steed for this trip is a total Throw “Way The Hell” Back rig complete with canti-brakes. Brakes is a bit of an optimistic term in this case, slowers is more appropriate. On the plus side, I’ll soon have hands that can grip like a bear trap and I should not be accused of skidding up the trails around here.

The weather guessers were calling for a typhoon to come through the area the following day so getting a ride in before that was a priority. The outdoor adventure center were I rented the bike is more centered on scuba and deep sea fishing than biking so I had to spend quite a bit of time get the bike setup and tuned before heading off for the late afternoon ride. I’m fairly certain that the clipless pedal I put on the bike doubles its value.

When I started out from my hotel room, a nearby thermometer read 90 degrees with the humidity being around 85%. I was sweating and I was barely moving. The climb up Mount Yumihari is on narrow paved roads. The plan was to take the pavement up and a couple of different trails down and then back into town.

The climb is fairly steep and it was good workout. I have done this climb numerous times so I knew what to expect which helped with the climb but I was still getting worked. Once I got to the top I realized that all the pre-ride tinkering had eaten up my daylight margin. I was pretty certain that taking the trails back down would end up being a night ride. A night ride I was not really prepared for. So I went with plan B and enjoyed the views from the top for a leisurely bit before taking the roads back down the mountain. This should help with the jet lag. This is not my first time MTBing in Sasebo so you can find other Sasebo related blog posts here.

Laguna Mountains Camping

Last Sunday through Wednesday my youngest son, Jake, and I did a three-night camping trip up in the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego. We got in some mountain biking, hiking and some good just kicking back time.

Nichol joined us on the first day for a bike ride around the meadow, dinner and some marshmallow destruction before heading back home to play responsible adult while the boys played in the dirt. Over the last few years there has been some reroutes to the meadow loop as well to some of the spur trails. I would say they are all for the better.

Back at camp, the marshmallows did not stand a chance.

The morning of day 2 was meet with some leisurely breakfast making before hitting up some of the trails.

Some play time on the Los Gatos trail was had.

Jake working on a skinny.

Jake working the camera.

We spent the early part of the afternoon just chilling out camp watch the squirrels trying to figure out how to get to our camp treats. This guy was craving some Cheetos. That afternoon we did a hike nearby that include the PCT connector trail from the meadow.

Day 3 we were up pretty early to hit some of the other Pretty Cool Trails in the area. We rode the meadow over the Penny Pines Trailhead and then made our way over the Pioneer Mail Trailhead where we picked up the Pine Mountain Trail. We took the Pine Mountain trail over to the Indian Creek Trail at Champagne Pass. Indian Creek is the primary legal trail connector for bikes between Cuyamaca and the Laguna Mountains.

We dropped off of Champagne pass to the east on the Indian Creek trail heading back to towards the Lagunas.

Jake loves him some downhill fun but is not a fan of climbing at all. He wonders why every place can’t be like Mammoth or Big Bear. Once we got to meadow pictured above, I took great pleasure in letting him know it was 3 miles to anywhere from here in either direction and it was uphill in both directions. We continued on the Indian Creek Trail to the east and climbed up to the junction with the Noble Canyon Trail.

From there we turned north and climbed Noble. (Colloquially known as the “Elbon” trail.) There is a recently completely reroute of Noble up near the top. The reroute eliminates a couple of road crossings. The new section is much tighter and a twistier that the original section and while a bit loose right now it should bed in nicely once we get some rains. I’m sure some of the Strava-tards and will wank about the reroute messing with their times. (My suggesting to those folks is shut up, just ride faster or turn to juicing.) Noble Canyon has its loyal followings of which some subscribe to the “Never Change My Trail” mentality so I would expect there will be discontent for a few months. Personally I think the reroute is going to be really nice once bedded in.

We took the “shortcut” spur trail that connects back to west end of the meadow vice going all the way back to the Penny Pines Trailhead. Once back at the meadow it was a quite spin back to camp.

It was pretty hot during the middle of the day so we kicked back in the shade of camp for a while before jumping in the truck for a swing by Laguna General Store for a Mexican Coke (The south of the border variant is made with real cane sugar vice corn syrup…tastier) and an Ice Cream bar before we did some recon work for some of the other trails in the area that are on my to-do list. Dinner that night was some tasty rib-eyes, grilled asparagus and zucchini with some brown rice. That night we shook off the food coma by strapping on the headlamps to do a mini night ride out on the meadow that included some lights off time to check out the stars on that completely dark night.

The next morning I was up before sunrise to get in a solo ride while the boy slept in. Presumably there would be no one else out of the trail as well. Sunrise was a Pretty Cool Time of day to be out and about by yourself in the woods. On the way back from the 16 mile loop I saw Mr. Wyle Coyote out looking for breakfast. After the initially moving away from me for a bit the coyote went back to hunting once establishing that I was not there to bother him. I watched him for a good five minutes or so before moving along.

Jake was just waking up when I got back to camp. A second round of coffee was in order for me and it was time for breakfast all around. After breakfast it was time to break down camp and head out of the mountains. I had a great time on the camping trip with Jake. With the exception of a few minutes, we did not have data coverage so having Jake “unplugged” was a bonus. With no competition with the all powerful 3G/4G it allowed for things like watching the “Campfire TV”, gazing at the stars, observations of the “little” things and conversations that would rarely occur otherwise. Good times. With some new GPS data and observations, I’m planning on updating some of the maps, files and pages I have for this area on the site, so stay tuned.